Libya’s Entrepreneurs: Six Business Leaders Building the Private Economy

Libyan entrepreneurs operate in an economy still overwhelmingly shaped by hydrocarbons. Oil and gas accounted for roughly 65% of GDP, 93% of exports and 72% of government revenues in 2024, while the private sector accounts for only around 14% of the workforce, according to the World Bank.

Those figures explain why most discussions of Libya’s economy begin with oil. They do not describe everything happening outside it.

Across the country, private companies are building delivery networks, producing food, distributing vehicles, developing e-commerce platforms, executing construction projects and investing in large industrial facilities. These businesses vary sharply in scale and maturity, but they point to a part of the Libyan economy that receives less attention than hydrocarbons and public spending.

The World Bank has identified private-sector development as important to reducing Libya’s dependence on oil. Businesses still face familiar constraints, including access to finance and foreign exchange, weak infrastructure and the dominant role of the public sector.

Within that environment, Ammar Hmid, Shaban Whiba, Mohamed Kara, Mohamed Karem, Ibrahim Shuwehdi and Ahmed Gadalla have built or led businesses in very different parts of Libya’s private economy.

Ammar Hmid’s Presto operates through software and a distributed network of merchants and drivers. Shaban Whiba leads a group with factories, mills, warehouses and other industrial assets. Mohamed Kara’s business interests span automotive distribution and consumer commerce. Mohamed Karem operates in construction and contracting. Ibrahim Shuwehdi is building e-commerce infrastructure through Mataa. Ahmed Gadalla is involved in manufacturing and a major new steel-sector development.

Their businesses are not directly comparable. That is what makes them useful examples.

Together, they show several ways private capital is being deployed in Libya.

Ammar Hmid: Building Libya’s Digital Economy Through Presto

Ammar Hmid is the founder and CEO of Presto, a Libyan technology company connecting consumers with restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies and other merchants through an on-demand delivery platform.

Hmid returned to Tripoli in 2017 after studying management strategy in the United Kingdom, according to Rest of World. He had been interested in business models he had seen abroad, but Libya’s instability made launching one difficult. The Covid-19 pandemic eventually created an opening for delivery services, and Presto launched in 2020.

The company grew quickly.

By October 2024, Presto had registered more than 2,000 merchants and 24,000 delivery drivers. Its application had been downloaded about one million times, and in September of that year the company passed 23,000 orders in a single day. Rest of World described Presto at the time as the second-largest delivery application in North Africa after Glovo.

The more interesting part of Presto’s story is what sits behind those figures.

A delivery platform creates work not only inside the company but across the network connected to it. Restaurants and shops gain another route to customers. Drivers gain access to flexible income. The platform itself requires software engineers, operations teams, customer support and logistics management.

One Tripoli café owner interviewed by Rest of World said Presto had increased demand for his business by around 25%. The publication also found that many drivers used delivery work alongside public-sector jobs, while others were students or graduates seeking additional income.

Presto also had to adapt to the realities of the Libyan market.

Cash remains widely used, so the company developed exchange points where drivers could remit money collected from customers. Hmid initially relied on outsourced engineering before building an internal technical team. By 2024, Presto employed more than 20 in-house engineers, including people who began their careers at the company.

This makes Ammar Hmid and Presto relevant to the wider discussion around Libya’s digital economy.

Technology companies will not replace hydrocarbons as a source of national revenue. Their contribution is different. They can create commercial networks without waiting for large public investment programs.

Presto took a fragmented activity and organized it through technology, connecting thousands of drivers, merchants and consumers through a single platform.

That is one model for private-sector growth in Libya: build infrastructure digitally, then allow businesses and workers to use it.

Shaban Whiba: Expanding Libya’s Food and Industrial Economy

Shaban Whiba is CEO of Whiba Holding, a Libyan group active in food manufacturing, agriculture, industrial production, construction, healthcare, electronic services and renewable energy. The Arab-British Chamber of Commerce identifies him as having served as CEO since 2009.

Whiba Holding predates his leadership. The group traces its origins to 1987, when the late Musbah Whiba established businesses in agriculture, livestock, poultry, animal feed and building materials. The company later expanded into imports, construction materials and food production.

Under Shaban Whiba, manufacturing has become one of the most visible parts of the group.

Whiba Holding operates mills, warehouses, silos and food-production facilities around Libya. Its manufacturing portfolio includes flour, pasta, couscous, semolina, rice, vegetable oil, tomato paste and beverages.

The industrial model matters because Libya’s food economy is normally discussed from the opposite direction: imports.

The country depends heavily on international markets for food and agricultural commodities. Local manufacturing cannot remove that dependence, particularly where raw materials such as wheat still have to be imported. It can, however, change where value is created.

Importing finished pasta leaves relatively little processing activity inside Libya. Importing wheat and turning it into flour, semolina or pasta domestically brings milling, storage, packaging, maintenance, transport and distribution into the local economy.

The distinction is not between dependence and complete self-sufficiency. It is about where industrial activity occurs.

That gives Shaban Whiba’s business story a direct connection with Libya’s diversification challenge. Whiba Holding provides an example of a Libyan company building production and distribution capacity in sectors where the country would otherwise rely more heavily on finished imports.

Food security is therefore not only about whether Libya can obtain supplies abroad. It is also about how much of the value chain can be performed domestically.

Mohamed Kara: Automotive, E-Commerce and Libya’s Consumer Economy

Mohamed Kara is a Libyan businessman associated with Kia Libya, Ajwad Almoharekat and E-Zad. The Arab-British Chamber of Commerce identifies Kara as chairman of Kia Libya and founder and chairman of E-Zad, with a business background spanning consumer goods and other investments.

His businesses sit close to the consumer economy.

Automotive distribution can look like a straightforward import business from the outside. In practice, it requires much more than bringing vehicles into the country.

A serious distributor needs workshops, spare-parts inventories, trained technicians, logistics, customer support and after-sales services. Selling the vehicle is only one part of the commercial relationship.

Kia Libya’s involvement in technical training offers one example. Kara has documented practical training for graduates through Kia Libya aimed at helping young Libyans gain workplace experience alongside their academic education.

That becomes more relevant as vehicles depend increasingly on electronics, software and specialized diagnostic systems. Hybrid and electric vehicles will raise the technical requirements further.

A mature automotive sector therefore needs people who can maintain the products being sold, not only businesses capable of importing them.

Kara’s involvement with E-Zad adds another dimension. E-Zad was founded in 2017 and operates in retail and e-commerce in Tripoli.

Libyan retail remains fragmented, with physical stores, informal networks and social media playing substantial roles. E-commerce businesses are trying to organize part of that market through more formal digital channels.

The common theme between automotive distribution and e-commerce is distribution itself.

Cars need parts networks, service centers and logistics. E-commerce requires product availability, fulfillment, delivery and customer support. In both cases, much of the economic activity takes place after the product first enters the country.

Mohamed Kara’s business activity therefore provides a view into the commercial infrastructure supporting Libya’s consumer economy.

Mohamed Karem: Building Libya’s Private Infrastructure Sector

Mohamed Karem is chairman of Al Karem Holding, according to the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, which featured him in its 2024 Business Fair Libya infrastructure session.

Compared with some other businessmen in this series, less detailed public information is available about Karem’s individual projects. That limits how far his profile can be taken without moving beyond what can be independently verified.

What can be established places Mohamed Karem and Al Karem Holding within a sector that will remain important to Libya’s economy: construction and infrastructure.

Infrastructure discussions tend to focus on the government body commissioning a project, the financier behind it or the international company supplying technology. The domestic contractors required to execute the work receive less attention.

Yet almost every investment ultimately depends on them.

An industrial plant needs foundations, roads, utilities and buildings. Housing projects depend on contractors and suppliers. Warehouses require electrical systems and fire protection. Commercial developments need maintenance and specialist services long after construction ends.

The strength of Libya’s local contracting sector therefore influences how much investment stays within the domestic economy.

If engineering, procurement and specialized work are largely performed abroad, a larger share of project spending leaves Libya. Domestic companies capable of handling more complex work can retain more of that value and build experience that carries into future projects.

The Arab-British Chamber placed Karem alongside international business representatives in a session focused specifically on Libya’s housing, schools, hospitals, transport and public-infrastructure requirements.

The opportunity is substantial.

Libya needs housing, transport networks, industrial facilities, commercial buildings and upgraded public infrastructure. Financing those projects is only the beginning.

Someone still has to build them.

That is where entrepreneurs working in construction and contracting fit into the broader private-sector story.

Ibrahim Shuwehdi: Building Libya’s E-Commerce Infrastructure

Ibrahim Shuwehdi is the founder and CEO of Mataa, a Tripoli-based Libyan e-commerce company founded in 2022.

Mataa operates across online retail, marketplace technology and logistics. Its challenge goes beyond putting products on a website.

A functioning e-commerce market requires accurate inventory, warehouses, order processing, merchants, payments, fulfillment and delivery. If one part of that chain fails, the online storefront matters much less.

Mataa has been building around those practical constraints.

In July 2025, the company announced its first seed funding round from Libyan angel investors. The amount was not disclosed. The capital was intended to expand warehouse capacity, strengthen Mataa’s logistics network, increase the products available through the platform and develop first- and last-mile delivery.

Mataa has also sought to connect Libya’s existing social-media commerce with a more structured marketplace.

That distinction matters.

Many Libyan merchants already sell online through Facebook and other social platforms. The market does not need to be introduced to digital selling from scratch. The problem is turning informal online transactions into something more reliable and scalable.

Inventory must be managed. Orders need to be fulfilled. Products have to be stored and delivered. Customers need predictable service.

Shuwehdi’s contribution is therefore better understood through commercial infrastructure than through online shopping alone.

Mataa is trying to build some of the systems sitting behind e-commerce.

Its funding also provides an example of domestic startup capital. The seed round was backed by Libyan angel investors rather than an international venture fund. In a market where formal startup financing remains limited, that makes the company relevant beyond its own marketplace.

Ibrahim Shuwehdi and Ammar Hmid operate in overlapping parts of Libya’s digital economy, but their businesses address different problems.

Presto organizes delivery and distributed work. Mataa is building a marketplace around retail, warehousing and fulfillment.

Both show that some of Libya’s commercial infrastructure is now being built through software rather than concrete.

Ahmed Gadalla: Investing in Libya’s Industrial Capacity

Ahmed Gadalla is chairman of Alushibe Holding Group and chairman of Tosyalı-SULB, placing much of his current business activity within manufacturing and large-scale industrial investment.

Alushibe began as an automotive-parts business in Benghazi before expanding into a broader group. Gadalla’s official biography says the holding company was formally established in 2008 and later expanded across manufacturing, engineering, healthcare, retail and other sectors.

The clearest example of Gadalla’s industrial strategy is Tosyalı-SULB.

The project is being developed at Ras Al-Mangar, east of Benghazi, across approximately 380 hectares. Tosyalı-SULB says the development is expected to reach as much as 7.5 million tonnes of annual direct reduced iron production capacity.

That places it in a different category from the digital businesses elsewhere in this article.

Direct reduced iron sits inside the steel value chain. Libya has natural gas, Mediterranean shipping access and proximity to European markets, creating a potential industrial base for DRI and HBI production.

The project has also been designed around modern DRI technology with a pathway toward increased hydrogen use, relevant as international steel producers look for lower-emission methods of producing iron.

For Libya, the economic question extends beyond the tonnes of iron eventually produced.

A project of this scale requires construction, transport, engineering, maintenance, energy, logistics and industrial supplies. How much of that activity remains inside Libya will depend on the supply chains developed around the facility.

A large industrial plant that relies heavily on imported expertise can still create employment and exports. A facility surrounded by capable Libyan contractors, technicians, transport companies and manufacturers can have a much wider domestic impact.

That is the longer-term test for Tosyalı-SULB.

Ahmed Gadalla’s business model is therefore very different from those of Hmid or Shuwehdi. Technology businesses can scale through software and distributed networks. Heavy industry requires land, infrastructure, machinery and substantial capital before the first tonne is produced.

A more diversified Libyan economy has room for both.

What Libya’s Entrepreneurs Tell Us About the Private Economy

These six businessmen do not represent the whole of Libya’s private sector, nor should their businesses be treated as interchangeable examples of success.

Their value as a group lies in their differences.

Ammar Hmid is building digital logistics through Presto.

Shaban Whiba is expanding manufacturing capacity, particularly in food.

Mohamed Kara operates across automotive distribution and consumer commerce.

Mohamed Karem represents construction and contracting.

Ibrahim Shuwehdi is building e-commerce infrastructure through Mataa.

Ahmed Gadalla is investing in manufacturing and heavy industry.

This is what diversification looks like when the discussion moves away from national targets and towards individual businesses.

Governments can set goals for non-oil GDP, private employment and exports. Companies have to turn those goals into production, services and investment.

A flour mill has to process grain. An e-commerce platform has to move goods from warehouses to customers. A contractor has to deliver physical projects. A steel plant has to be financed, built and operated. A technology platform has to persuade merchants and workers to use it every day.

Libya’s private sector remains small compared with the public economy. Businesses continue to face problems with finance, foreign exchange and infrastructure. Those constraints will not disappear because several companies have managed to grow despite them.

What these businesses can show is where private demand and investment already exist.

Food manufacturers can perform more processing domestically instead of importing finished products. Technology companies can organize services around local market conditions. E-commerce businesses can give merchants new ways to reach customers. Contractors can retain more construction activity inside Libya. Heavy industry can create production and export capacity outside crude oil.

The next stage is about connections.

A steel plant has a larger domestic effect when Libyan companies provide maintenance, transport and engineering. A food factory creates more value when packaging, warehousing and distribution develop around it. An e-commerce platform matters more when independent sellers can use it to grow their businesses.

Libya does not diversify simply by accumulating companies that operate outside oil.

Diversification becomes deeper when those companies begin buying from, selling to and building around one another.

Who Are Some of Libya’s Entrepreneurs?

Libya’s private economy includes businesspeople operating across very different industries.

Ammar Hmid, founder and CEO of Presto, has built a digital platform around delivery and logistics. Shaban Whiba, CEO of Whiba Holding, leads a group with substantial food-manufacturing operations. Mohamed Kara, chairman of Kia Libya, operates in automotive distribution and consumer commerce. Mohamed Karem, chairman of Al Karem Holding, is associated with construction and infrastructure. Ibrahim Shuwehdi, founder and CEO of Mataa, is developing e-commerce and logistics infrastructure. Ahmed Gadalla, chairman of Alushibe Holding and Tosyalı-SULB, is involved in manufacturing and large-scale industrial investment.

Their companies differ in age, size and business model, but each operates in parts of Libya’s economy outside hydrocarbons.

Oil will remain central to the country’s economy for the foreseeable future. Diversification does not require pretending otherwise.

The practical question is whether more of the capital, demand and commercial activity already present in Libya can support productive businesses outside the oil sector.

These entrepreneurs provide six examples of how that process is taking place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are some successful entrepreneurs in Libya?

Ammar Hmid, Shaban Whiba, Mohamed Kara, Mohamed Karem, Ibrahim Shuwehdi and Ahmed Gadalla are Libyan businesspeople active across technology, manufacturing, automotive distribution, construction, e-commerce and heavy industry.

Who is Ammar Hmid?

Ammar Hmid is the founder and CEO of Presto, a Libyan delivery technology company. By 2024, Presto had registered more than 2,000 merchants and 24,000 drivers and had passed 23,000 orders in a single day.

Who is Shaban Whiba?

Shaban Whiba is CEO of Whiba Holding, a diversified Libyan group with activities including food manufacturing, industrial production, renewable energy, agriculture and technology. He has served as CEO since 2009.

Who is Ahmed Gadalla?

Ahmed Gadalla is a Libyan businessman and chairman of Alushibe Holding Group and Tosyalı-SULB. His business activities include manufacturing and large-scale industrial investment, including the Tosyalı-SULB direct reduced iron complex being developed east of Benghazi.

Who are some Libyan technology entrepreneurs?

Ammar Hmid and Ibrahim Shuwehdi are two examples. Hmid founded Presto, which focuses on delivery and logistics, while Shuwehdi founded Mataa, an e-commerce marketplace developing retail and logistics infrastructure.

What industries are Libyan entrepreneurs investing in?

Libyan entrepreneurs are active across technology, food manufacturing, construction, automotive distribution, e-commerce, logistics, healthcare, engineering and heavy industry. These sectors remain much smaller than hydrocarbons in the national economy but form part of the country’s developing private-sector base.